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User blog:Supahbadmarine/Navigation without the Astronomicon
Recently I have been thinking on the nature of how the Imperium Navigates it's way through the Warp while engaging in faster than light transit. Now bear with me here. The Imperium's sole means of FTL travel is through the Warp. However the issue with that aside from the obvious dangers and mishaps is that it's impossible to get one's bearings within the Warp. The Warp is constantly shifting, changing and flowing meaning that there are no discernable landmarks within the Warp itself, and one can not check on the surroundings in realspace while in the Warp. This means that while a Navigator can still see into the Warp and read its currents, they have no reliable way of knowing their position within the Warp relative to Real Space, which makes it impossible to know which direction they are heading in the Warp, or where they will end up when they exit. The Imperium solved this problem via the Astronomicon, a massive psychic beacon generated by thousands of psykers, and projected across the galaxy by the formidable mind of the Emperor itself. This beacon can be seen within the Warp by Navigators and Psykers inclined to percieve it anywhere within its area of effect, which includes most of the galaxy. Since the Astronomicon is located on Holy Terra it gives Navigators travelling in the Warp a universal point of reference by which they can more accurately judge their position relative to Real Space by evaluating the distance and direction of the Astronomicon. However it has been stated that the Emperor is slowly coming to his end, and when he dies he takes the Astronomicon with him, thus dooming the Imperium to splinter apart as they lose the ability to travel safely and reliably through the Warp. Now that I have finished explaining Navigation for those that do not already understand its priniciples lets get on with my hypothesis. Now I have been wracking my brain to come up with a method by which one could reliably Navigate in the Warp without the Astronomicon. A daunting prospect. However I think I may have come up with a solution, albeit an imperfect one. The issue at hand is that Navigators need a point of reference in Real Space that they can draw upon while moving through the Warp, something in Real Space with a fixed position, but that also has a presence in the Warp that could be percieved at a distance. Then it occured to me, what about the Eye of Terror? The Eye of Terror is a Warp/Real Space overlap. it has a definite position within the physical universe while existing simultaneously in the Warp, and if Perturabo's backstory is anything to go by it can be percieved at great distances by those that are psychically attuned. Thus I drew the conclusion that if a Navigator or Psyker were to focus their minds on locating the Eye of Terror within the Warp they could in fact use it as a point of reference by which they could navigate. In fact it goes beyond the Eye of Terror. While the Eye, being the largeset Warp Rift in the galaxy, would be the easiest to locate and percieve, theoretically any Warp Rift in the galaxy could theorectically be used as a point of reference in Warp navigation. There's even a precedent for it in the lore in the form of the Cyclopean Congregation, a cult of rogue Navigators that use the Hadex Anomoly to navigate instead of the Astronomicon. Now understnad that this is just speculation, and by no means do I consider this a perfect solution to the Astronomicon issue. For one there Warp Rifts would no doubt be far more difficult to locate within the Warp at distance than a powerful psychic beacon like the Astronomicon. Additionally those of you that know much about the Warp know that these Warp Rifts tend to be infested by Daemons and dominated by the Forces of Chaos. Most Navigators and Psykers find casting their minds toward them hazardous, risking madness or the attentions of the warp's unfreidnly denizens when they do so, but I believe a Navigator with a trained mind and a strong will could potentially stave off these dangers for a good while, at the cost of his/her sanity in the long term. Anyway What do you guys think? Category:Blog posts